I know Vittoria is hands down the winner as far as ride quality is concerned, but two common complaints about them worry me. One is that they have poor wet weather traction. They other is that they are prone to punctures. I've narrowed my choices to these two based on them both having solid reputations, and similar prices. Eventually I plan to move on to Veloflex Carbons, so no need to make that suggestion. The reason I'm not jumping on them right off the bat is that I want to be able to fully appreciate them. I've not ridden tubulars for a few years and I want to be able to descern whether what I'm feeling is due to their quality, or simply the fact that they're tubular. Most recently I've been riding 23c GP4000S tires, which have proven to be excellent all around tires. That makes me want to go with the Continentals, but since I've found the Vittorias at similar prices, I'm tempted by their ride quality. I'm just worried that they are too puncture prone for my daily driver wheelset. Is this valid, or will they hold up as well as sprinters?

Its been 12 years since I used Sprinters. So my information may be irrelevant. But I don't think Sprinters have changed in the past 20 years so it may be very relevant. I got a few thousand miles on the rear for Sprinters. They did flat. I had 3-4 flats in a few thousand miles. Easy enough to change on the side of the road with the spare being carried. But they do flat. Easy to repair the tubular too. The base tape comes off easy. Maybe too easy. When pulling the tire off to change it, the base tape comes off. Easy to unstitch and patch the tube. Butyl tube. Use Goop brand glue to stick the base tape back on. Better than from the factory. Waxed floss for the thread.

That's helpful, thanks! I know all tires can flat. I'm not unreasonable. I just want to avoid tires that have an above average propensity for punctures. Recently I've been noticing a lot of posts that lead me to believe this is the case for the Corsa CX.

I know Conti switched to their Black Chili rubber compound on the Sprinters, but that's the only change I'm aware of. The GP4000S that I've been using use the same thing, so I know I can trust their wet weather performance. However, I'm not opposed to swapping back to clincher wheels for the rare rides where I expect rain in advance, if it means I'll get a better ride quality the rest of the time.

I've had really good luck with Sprinters, traction is great even is in the rain in crits. They're extremely durable, I've hit glass several times without any pucntures. Ride quality is just fine at 90psi for me, they're still much smoother than my clinchers.

Vittorias, I flatted 3 out of the 4 I ordered. I hit a rock that flatted one, pinch flatted another (110psi, 145# rider), got a staple in the third. Maybe it's just bad luck, but the tread seems to get really cut up and 3 flats in 1500mi is really bad for Me. I usually flat once every few years. Wet weather traction is absolutely horrible. When the roads get damp they start getting really slick. They're bad enough that I won't even ride them on a casual ride if it might rain or the roads are damp. They do have amazing traction when it's dry though. IMO, the wet weather traction is reason enough to avoid them.

I'd consider Vittorias race day wheels and Sprinters every day wheels. Vittorias do have a nicer ride quality but flat pretty easily once the rear has over 1,000 km in my experience, whereas Sprinters last quite a bit longer.

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